Cotton cleaner



Oct. 2, 1928. 1,686,414

R. E. LEE

COTTON CLEANER Filed April 20, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet l Oct. 2, 1928, l ggqg mflg,

E. LEE

COTTON CLEANER Filed April 20, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 9 Patented Oct. 2, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RUFUS EDWARD LEE, OF WICHITA FALLS, TEXAS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO THE PANHANDLE STEEL PRODUCTS COMPANY, OF WICHITA FALLS, TEXAS, A. GOR- PORATION OF TEXAS.

COTTON CLEANER.

My invention relates to cotton cleaners, and has for its object the production of a machine of this class which can be used with all cotton; (2) means such as beaters to force enough air through the cotton to cause the same to assume its natural fluffy stage and become animated; (3) means for preparing the cotton by breaking up the burrs, for other machinery known as burr extractors, whereby the burrs may be more easily extracted; (4) an all steel and malleable iron structure, reducing the fire risk, and which can be separated from static with one ground wire; (5) supporting spiders to be carried on shafting, preventing the beaters from breaking loose or slipping on the same, while the heaters carried on the spiders are pivotally. supported whereby they tend through centrifugal force to become sufficiently rigid to function properly as flailing units and at the proper speed to be supple enough to prevent choking; (6) means for thoroughly and efficiently employing all the power absorbed by the machine; and (7) in general an assembly of parts which gives, as compared with previous machines, more thorough cleaning, less damage to the staple of the cotton, better breaking of snaps and bolly cotton, with more rigid and heavier construction, unbreakable malleable castings, closely machined, fitted and keyed on the shafting.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side view on the side opposite the drive. with parts broken away.

Fig. 2 is an end view taken at the discharge end; and i Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view through one I shaft, showing one spider and the flailing arms pivoted thereon, also the wire mesh which supports the cotton.

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view of a double unit installation. i

Fig. 5 is afragmentary plan view of a part of the body and shafts showing the spider arms and their flailing arms on successive shafts staggered with relation to each other. In the drawings, 1 and 2 are steel channels forming sills connected by and riveted to angle pieces 8 and 9, to form a rectangular frame upon which the entire structure is assembled. 3 and 4 are sheet steel sides connected by ends 6 and 7, the latter being shown partly broken away to exhibit the interior of the body; The sides and ends are riveted together as indicated at 5, and the sides are rivetedto the channels 1 and 2, to form an enclosed body or receptacle for the cotton to be cleaned. Across the frame and inside the body are a series of cross bars 10, upon and between which is supportedthe wire mesh 11 forming a series of curved beds concentric with the several'driving shafts 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 On the left-hand side in Fig. 2 I have indicated the driving mechanism, comprising the usual drive belt 18 passing around pulleys 12 and 17 a on the shafts 12 and 17, the former of which carries a main drive pulley 19. The drive shown is what is known as a tandem drive. The cylinders or shafts are belted together as follows: 12 and 13;-12 and 14;16 and 17 ;15 and 17 and 12 and 17. The pulleys used on this machine are of the following dimensions: 10 diameter, 6" face, and 1%-{,- bore.

Passing through openings in the side plates 3 and 4, the shafts 12, 13, 1 1, etc., are journaled in bearings 20, supported on the upper horizontal faces of the channel beamsl and 2 of the frame. Each shaft as shown herein is provided with eight spiders 21, and each spider (see Fig. 3) carries six flailing arms 22, pivoted on the extremities of its arms. These spiders and the flailing arms and all other castings are made of malleable steel, and being all electrically connected through metallic contact, can be cleared of static by attaching a single ground wire. This construction reduces fire risk. The spiders 21 are keyed to their respective shafts at 23, and are carried on sleeves 24 which surround the shaft. The length of the sleeves is such that if desired the spiders and their flailing arms may be staggered row by row, as shown in Fig. 5, those upon each shaft lying between those upon the adjacent shafts. In this way the entire surface of thecotton may be covered as it passes over the wire mesh and is beaten (seediagram of Fig. 5).

In operation, the cotton is fed in at one end and is fed out at the other, being continuously carried along by the operation of the flailing arms. Power being applied to the pulley 19, all the pa all e1 shafts are simultaneously turned in the same direction'and all the heaters operate at once upon the cotton,

boll, are broken. and prepared for the burr extractors so as to be easily extracted after passing out of the cleaner. g

The wire mesh which I preferably use wlth "thism'achine at present is iQ-gauge screen fwlre, with one-half 1nch mesh. It w ll be noted that the flailing arms haveno sharp points or other proyections whlch might destroy'the staple or machine cotton. 3 llrtlieir "constant revolution the heaters or flailing arms forceair in each trouglrtlirougli thecotton, thuscausing the same toflu'ff up and glvmg 1t l fe. Themass and dimensions of' the'flailing arms and of the spider arms are such that'at a normal" speed and with a nor-' mal charge of cotton, the boaters or flailing arms being fastened to the spider arms loose- 1y, become sufficiently rigid to F function properly" as flailing units, and yet at the proper speed they-are supple enough to give and prevent choking. The operation of these flailing arms, and the fact that the entire surfacesof the cotton are covered, produce a more thorough cleaning, with less damage to staple and cotton, better breaking of snaps and belly cotton, than heretofore possible,

within my knowledge. i

The design of the parts asheretofore de y scribed permits of more rigid and heavier construction, resisting wear, also contributed.

to by the use of unbreakable malleable'castings machined and keyed on the shaftmg as heretofore described.

be usedon' picked cotton, a single unit is set up, placed on a sub-floor behindthegin stand. Thefloor level 'of this gin stand should be approximately three 'feet'below the top of the distributor with a'separator or dropper directly over the'first'=shaft on -the end of the machine farthest from thedistributor, which permitsthe cotton to be' 'car- Cir ried' over-[the entire length 'of'the cleaner'ioutsidethethin'metal body,-saidjournal bear- "ings being'inrpairsgon opposite sides of-the screen 11 and discharged onthe distributor belt. 1 I

Where a'double unit is installedfor the purpose of handling rough or bolly "cotton and in connection with burr extractingmachines, the sub-floor shouldbe the same as mentioned for the single unit installation, but two sections should, be used. The first section S is-placed directly over and in line with the second section S with the dropper down and out through "the wire or separator D placed directly over the first shaft 17, and this section S having a discharge opening ,on theend nearest the distributor iallowing the cotton to pass over the entire length of the screen surface ii l to be 1 discharged into an all-steel chute C"d'1v1ded in such a manner as to place the cotton on the conveyor ofaiburr extractor E or by means of a bypass G to permit the same to pass to the second section S of the cotton cleaner,'wh1ch is located in'the same manner as that described in the installation of? a single unit. The cottonis thus permitted to by-pass-the extractor if the operator sodesires.

For chine is installed with an extractor E in'=the same manner, closing the by-pass C between the two sections and allowing the cottonto be c'lischar ged onto a conveyer carryingthe same to the extractor E,where, after having the burrs extracted, it is discharged onto a third c'onveyer' extended over the *full width of the body l of the second or'lowerfsection'S' of the machine directly over itsffirst'shaft or cylinder 17 allowing 'the cotton: to pass over the second or lower: sections 'ofthis cleaner after it has been eXtracted-fromburrs.

"In this manner the cotton is' cleaned before I do not claim hereinthe apparatusishown in Fig. 4,1101 the method of operating with said apparatus, all of which will be claimed in a divisional application-about to be filed.

' Having thus described-my invention, what I claim is:

1. 'A' machine unit for cleaning cotton, comprising a flat-rectangular base frame composed of' a pair of 'parallel elongated side members "of'structural steel connected-by a I I pair 'of'end members rigidly and integrally In installing the cleaner thus described to a secured thereto, the upperfaces ofthetwo parallel side memberslying in the same plane, a rectangular vertical enclosing body composed of side and end members 'of relatively thin'metal coterminous with the side and end base frame, each pair havingia,commonaxis and all of said axes lying parallel to each other and transverse to the upper faces of the base frame, aseries of parallel drivingshafts,

operating with bollyi cotton" zthis ma- "one for each pair of bearings,'extendling acrossthe inside of the body'above the-base frame witlr'their ends passing through the "body: onboth sides andyjourn'aled in said bearings, a plurality of sleeves fitted upon each shaft within and between the sides of the body, a plurality of spider arms upon each sleeve, and a flailing arm pivoted upon the outer end of each spider arm, a plurality of cross bars extending from side to side of the base frame between and below the respective adjacent pairs of driving shafts, and parallel therewith, a foraminous metal bed extending across and within said base frame from one side to the other and from one end to the other, said bed being supported upon said cross bars and formed into cylindrically curved sections between the same, each section concentric with and underlying a driving shaft at a radial distance therefrom greater than the length of its spider arms,

driving means mounted upon the ends of the shafts, means interconnecting said driving means, and means for applying power thereto.

2. The unit described in claim 1, in which the spiders and flailing arms mounted on successive shafts from end to end of the frame are successively and individually staggered with respect to each other, each set of spiders and arms however, acting in tandem with those preceding it on the same body of mate-- rial passing through the machine.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature.

RUFUS EDWARD LEE. 

